Spook-tacular sips

Mulled ciders are the spirit traditionally associated with Halloween, but the weather here doesn’t yet permit a fabulous glass of hot mulled cider. So why not try a few cocktails that’ll transport you to a typical fall Halloween night back in the West This was exactly the concept we wanted to create for our Halloween special cocktails at The Sassy Spoon.

The techniques and ingredients that you’d use in a Halloween cocktail are different than those you’d use at any other time of the year — they’ve got to be a little sweet. For instance, your traditional whiskey sour would be just the whiskey and sour mix, but we treat our whiskey with spices to a point that it tastes almost like a big red chewing gum!

The presentation of a Halloween cocktail is also important. For instance, the Hocus Pocus (see recipe alongside) is a layered cocktail. It looks a lot like what a vampire might want to drink — a layer of alcohol and a layer of red wine! Or take a look at the Grimm Reaper, which has charred cinnamon sticks and star anise as the garnish to give a feel of a typical fall night in the woods.

So this weekend, dress as your favourite spooky character and raise a toast to Halloween with a spine-chilling cocktail!

Pranav is the manager/ mixologist at The Sassy Spoon, Mumbai

Hocus Pocus Ingredients: 30 ml tequila 15 ml triple sec 30 ml sweet-sour mix 30 ml red wine (preferably Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz) Some castor sugar Grenadine syrup, to rim glass Ice

Method: Lightly rim a martini glass with some grenadine and then dip in castor sugar to get a red rim. Next, in a cocktail shaker, add tequila, triple sec, sweet-sour mix with ice and shake well. Pour into the martini glass. Lastly, over the back of a bar spoon, slowly pour the wine onto the martini.

Grimm Reaper This recipe calls for infused whiskey. So in a mason jar, pour in a bottle of your favourite whiskey (preferably a Bourbon), add 4-5 cinnamon sticks and let it sit for a couple of weeks.

Ingredients: 60 ml infused whiskey 60 ml fresh sour mix 1 cinnamon stick 1 orange wedge

Method: In a Boston shaker, add the whiskey, fresh sour mix and ice. Shake and pour over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with cinnamon stick and orange wedge.

Dracula Cooler Combine white rum, dark rum, brandy, peach or apricot crush, sweet-n-sour mix in a glass, and layer it with grenadine, as per taste. Your Dracula Cooler is ready!

Vampire Martini Combine vodka, triple sec, strawberry crush, sweet-n-sour mix, as per taste, in a Martini glass. Enjoy your Vampire Martini. Courtesy Copa

H’El Diablo Ingredients: 45 ml Anejo aged tequila 15 ml creme de cassis 10 ml fresh-squeezed lime juice 75 ml ginger beer

Method: In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, ginger beer and lime. Shake well and strain into a chilled, ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Slowly , pour the cassis over a bar spoon into the cocktail & watch tit slowly integrate. Garnish with two lemon wedges placed on either side like the devil’s horns! Courtesy Sante

Brain Damage Shot Ingredients: 22 ml peach snapps 8 ml Baileys Irish cream Dash of grenadine

Method: Fill your shot glass upto three quarters with the peach snapps Splash in Irish cream to make the “brain” (see pic). Lastly, pour in a dash of grenadine for the “blood” effect. Courtesy Radio Bar